True Freedom.

I want to say that the pleasures of life don’t have to be contrary to the joy of the Lord.

Its not that you either have to have the joy of the Lord or enjoy the things of this world.
God has given us certain pleasures in this life that are to be enjoyed and it doesn’t have to be separate from the joy of the Lord.

The challenge is that we often substitute pleasure for joy. In the absence of the joy of the Lord, we settle for mere pleasure. It never satisfies, but we end up settling. And what we find is that we are too easily satisfied.

In The Weight of Glory, CS Lewis says this, “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition, when infinite joy is offered us. Like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

But when we get the joy of the Lord—when we make Jesus our Supreme Treasure—then we are released to more truly enjoy the pleasures of the world. When we’re totally satisfied in Christ, when our identity is secure in Him, then we’re released to more truly and more fully enjoy the pleasures of the world. Instead of owning us in our need for them, we are free from them because Christ is supreme. Now we can enjoy them in a more full way. They actually bring us more pleasure, not less pleasure. Because we have the joy of the Lord and all we need in Christ, we can delight in more things. We can delight in things more fully when we need them less.

It’s the same in relationships. When you find your identity and security and love in Christ, you can enjoy and love people more and need them less…. And that’s full on freedom.

--Britt Merrick
"Joy& Pain in Philippians"
Reality Carpinteria podcast.